The British Council of Malaysia, under its “Human-Nature” programme, aims to foster partnerships between the United Kingdom and Malaysian communities, as well as artistic, scientific, and academic stakeholders, to address climate adaptation through creative responses. Recently, the programme exposed seven delegates from the United Kingdom to multi-disciplinary projects that raise awareness and advocate for local cultural rights and climate challenges. Pictured here is the Bengoh Dam, one of the places the delegates visited.
Uniting for Change
There is an urgent need to respond to the current climate change. The British Council — the United Kingdom’s (UK) international organisation for cultural relations and education opportunities — recently organised a UK delegation trip to Malaysia to advocate for climate adaption and to maximise the voices of marginalised communities here.
The UK and Malaysia have recently established a three-year global programme called “Human-Nature”, which aims to integrate the arts, artists, culture, and cultural rights into efforts to combat climate change.
The programme’s goal is to tell a story about climate adaptation that will allow artists and UK representatives to share the climate change story and improve practices in cultural organisations.
The ongoing “Human-Nature” programme aims to foster partnerships between the UK and Malaysian communities, as well as artistic, scientific, and academic stakeholders, to address climate adaptation through creative responses that:
- Embed arts and creativity in the environment emergency response.
- Elevate marginalised voices and wisdom through equitable participation and conversation.
- Raise awareness about sustainable consumption models and new advocacy narratives.
The seven UK delegates arrived in Malaysia on March 1 to 10, partnering with local creative groups such as Borneo Bengkel, Forever Sabah, and Catama Borneo. Their trip began in Kuala Lumpur and ended in Sabah. In between, the delegation visited Kuching, Sarawak, from March 4 to 6.
The delegates were exposed to multi-disciplinary projects that raise awareness and advocate for local cultural rights and climate change issues. The delegation consists of Alice Sharp (Artistic Director at Invisible Dust), Alysha Nelson (artist), Ashish Ghadiali (Filmmaker and founder of Radical Ecology), Emma Nicolson (Head of Arts at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh), Kim Wide (CEO and Artistic Director at Take a Part), Lucy Byatt (Director of Hospitalfield, Scotland) and Marenka Thompson-Odlum (Research Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum).
Following the trip, there will be an open call for creative commissions between UK and Malaysian teams, with the goal of raising awareness and advocating for the role of art and indigenous knowledge in climate adaptation.
More about climate adaptation
According to a press release from the British Council, climate adaptation is the action of preparing for and adjusting to the current and projected impacts of climate change. Malaysia (especially Borneo), being one of the world’s 17 “megadiverse” countries, is globally important for cultural diversity and biodiversity.
However, cultural diversity, cultural rights, and biodiversity in Malaysia are facing a number of threats and issues related to climate change, which may compromise communities’ cultural practices and rights.
The British Council strongly believes that marginalised communities should be included in the climate adaption discourse. Wanting to be heard, the delegates who recently visited Malaysia determined that the local community wants their voices heard and their stories conveyed.
The British Council emphasised that the local community is the steward and guardian of their environment. They are deeply rooted in nature and have amassed invaluable ancestral knowledge. However, the problem is that they are at the forefront of climate adaptation, which is why listening to and learning from them is so important.
The delegates’ opinions
As part of the “Human-Nature” programme, the delegates addressed several questions from New Sarawak Tribune and offered their thoughts and opinions on climate adaptation.
Q: What are some examples of artistic and creative methods that can benefit the environment?
Nicolson: I think the visit has really brought home to me the profound understanding that climate change is intertwined with a myriad of ecological, social, and economic crises. Drawing from this newfound understanding, arts and creative methods play a crucial role in raising awareness and advocating for environmental issues. Narratives need to be interconnected: We need to weave these interconnected narratives to delve into the root causes of environmental challenges. Artistic endeavours can bring together work that explores the multiple facets of the Anthropocene, encompassing both economic structures, and colonial legacies.
Through our work, we can acknowledge the need for a systemic change in attitudes towards the natural world, fostering behaviours and priorities that align with climate justice. Artists, as agents of change, have the potential to transform perspectives, move minds, and advocate for sustainable practices that address the interconnectedness of ecological, social, and economic issues.
Artists have the capacity, through their work, to go beyond conventional conversations and think about the more-than-human and what it might mean to expand legal rights to all entities, from flowers to animals. I believe that artists will play a pivotal role in advocating for an expanded understanding of agency, intelligence, and personhood.
What are some examples of sustainable consumption models and new advocacy narratives? How can they help with climate adaption in this situation? Why are they important?
Wide: In the UK, people are generally environmentally literate, but what they want to do is be part of the solution by taking action and contributing to a positive narrative. We see this in sustainable consumption models, such as the rise of recycled fashion, where there is not only an economic benefit but also a cachet in being part of an environmental movement that is visible. Another positive outcome of supporting sustainable consumption and environmental action is the link to health and wellbeing that comes from being part of environmental solutions. We are seeing eco-influencers who are highly active on social media strategically leverage emotionally resonant and positive visual narratives that emphasise individual actions and solutions to personalise the climate crisis. The doom-and-gloom approach to environmental calls to action and the eco-anxiety that emerges from that are not effective. We need to share solutions that are actionable on a local and individual level.
What did each delegate learn during their time in Malaysia?
Thompson-Odlum: Due to the delegation visit, I have gained a much more nuanced understanding of the political, cultural, and environmental dynamics at play in Malaysia. Amidst the pluriversality of lives within the various Malaysian states, I learned that there is a multitude of ways to address climate change and climate adaptation, ranging from scientific to artistic responses. However, most importantly, I realised that any type of response must be place-based, grounded in the locality and local knowledge, and thus created alongside communities.
How will they apply what they have learned to raise awareness and advocate for local cultural rights and climate change?
Nicolson: There are so many ways I will incorporate this newfound knowledge and firsthand experiences into my approach to life and work in the future. I believe that artists have the capacity to reveal our deep connection with nature and, through their talent for storytelling in whatever art form, can help shift attitudes and behaviours towards climate justice and the climate crisis.
Wade: How can communities, oceans, languages, cultures, and worlds apart take a collective approach to countering the most significant challenge in our world today, and share ways and relationships to take action? The key, for me, is to look at how, through partnership and shared approaches, we can build global solutions together for hyper-local issues and how we can share our approaches and our learnings to build capacity. We need to work in ways that develop not only narratives but also the skills and approaches that are replaceable, impactful, sustainable, and based on the solutions communities want and need, so the work is generative and can continue beyond the lifespan of the Human-Nature programme. I am interested in how we can work transparently to show communities how to fundraise, produce projects, share their own success stories, and how to create toolkits and ways to share solutions more widely. I would love to see some of the communities we work with in the UK at “Take A Part” able to collaborate with communities facing similar challenges in Borneo (in terms of economics, education, access, and rights) and how we could create toolkits and systems of support and advocacy together that can be replicated.
What is the most important life lesson you have gained from this trip?
Ghadiali: What I learned from the trip is that making progress on climate action requires us to learn how to build common causes over vast distances and across differences too.
The Human-Nature Creative Commission’s open call will open by the middle of this year. These Creative Commissions are expected to showcase in Malaysia in 2025.
Apart from that, the British Council encourages those interested in taking part in this programme to follow them on social media or contact them directly. More information about this programme is also accessible here: https://www.britishcouncil.my/programmes/arts/human-nature.
